Milton Friedman on spending money

"There are four ways in which you can spend money. 

You can spend your own money on yourself. When you do that, why then you really watch out what you’re doing, and you try to get the most for your money. 

Then you can spend your own money on somebody else. For example, I buy a birthday present for someone. Well, then I’m not so careful about the content of the present, but I’m very careful about the cost. 

Then, I can spend somebody else’s money on myself. And if I spend somebody else’s money on myself, then I’m sure going to have a good lunch! 

Finally, I can spend somebody else’s money on somebody else. And if I spend somebody else’s money on somebody else, I’m not concerned about how much it is, and I’m not concerned about what I get. And that’s government." 

--Milton Friedman 

The US Tax System Described With Beer Analogy

I posted this on another blog site back in 2009, and it is still relevant today.

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.

The fifth would pay $1.

The sixth would pay $3.

The seventh would pay $7.

The eighth would pay $12.

The ninth would pay $18.

The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that’s what they decided to do.

Podcasts & audiobooks for the commute

Another year and a 3x/week commute to the office. I spend anywhere from 2-3 hours (avg 2.5, max 4) each day I have to drive work.

I have managed to polish off quite a few audiobooks since the beginning of the year:

Cabin Pressure: The Complete Series 1 (BBC)

The New One Minute Manager (1 hr)

A Blink of the Screen by Terry Pratchet (fiction)

Even More Laughs (standup comedy compilation)

Comedy, Volume 2 (standup comedy compilation)

Twelve Months by Jim Butcher (fiction)

Bayou Moon by Ilona Andrews (fiction, #2 in series)

On the Edge by Ilona Andrews (fiction, #1 in series)

The Law by Jim Butcher (fiction, #17.5 in series)

The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson (fiction, #3 in series)

Wingfeather Tales by Andrew Peterson (fiction)

The Institute by Stephen King (fiction)

Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan (fiction, #1 in series)

The Original by Brandon Sanderson (fiction)

Food for Thought by Alton Brown (autobiography)

Legion by Brandon Sanderson (fiction, 1-3 in series)

Terciel & Elinor by Garth Nix (fiction, #6 in series)

Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samrin Nosrat (nonfiction, cooking methodology)

Podcasts

The regular channels

• Marketplace
• Freakonomics Radio
• Unexplainable by Vox Media
• Gastropod
• Table Read

New in 2026:

• Once We Were Spacemen w/ Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk
• Voices from DARPA

Newly subscribed fictional podcasts:

• Incoming
• The Lovecraft Investigations
• Kakos Industries
• Mirror Falls (fictional Canadian slice of life)
• The Bardic Hearth
• Last Dance